Wednesday, 8 June 2005

Highlights from: Monday, 6 June Tuesday, 7 June

The final day of the ENA FLEG Preparatory Conference focused on two draft texts: "The Structure of the St. Petersburg Declaration" and "Elements for the ENA FLEG Indicative List of Actions." Both texts were drafted by the Co-facilitators and will serve as the basis for government and non-governmental stakeholder deliberations in the run up to the ENA FLEG Ministerial Conference. Two groups met separately in the morning, one composed of government delegates and the other of industry, civil society and other stakeholders, to discuss both texts. Participants met in a joint morning plenary session to review the outcomes of the two group discussions, and hear closing statements from Industry, Civil Society, and other stakeholder groups. In the afternoon, Co-facilitators Jag Maini and Jürgen Blaser summarized the deliberations of the Preparatory Conference, and explained the next steps to prepare a draft Ministerial Declaration and Indicative Action Plan. The Co-facilitators also outlined the preparation process and timeline for the documents, leading to their consideration during the ENA FLEG Ministerial Conference in December 2005.

On Wednesday morning, two draft texts prepared overnight by the conference co-facilitators were distributed to participants: “The Structure of the St. Petersburg Declaration” and “Elements for the ENA FLEG Indicative List of Actions.” The conference then broke into two discussion groups, one for government delegates and another for industry, civil society and other stakeholders.

Valery Roshupkin, Head of Federal Forestry Agency, Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, Nikita Bantsekin, Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, and Evgeny Kuzmichev, Forest Project, Russia

Governments' proposals on the indicative list of actions paper included: having a short preamble; detailing the data required; creating transparent databases on forest users; financial support for databases; adding forest inventories; referring to mechanisms for protecting competition; strengthening the rule of law; elaborating trade incentives to ensure legality; spelling out certification procedures; promoting an enabling climate to attract private investment; and referencing forest rights of indigenous peoples.

Kenji Nagatomo, Japan (left), Ya Adiya, Mongolia and Mihail Coca, Moldova (center) and Zhang Lei, China

Milanka Jovanovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina (left) and other government delegates deliberate papers on the structure of the St. Petersburg Declaration and indicative list of actions

Participants highlighted the need to: better define the scope of the Ministerial Declaration; make a clear distinction between subsistence and large-scale illegal logging; underscore lack of transparency as a key contributor to forest crime; articulate social, economic and environmental benefits of SFM; broaden participation at the Ministerial Conference to include other relevant officials such as trade and customs ministers; and harmonize national legislations around the principle of sustainable use.

Lars Laestadius, WRI, Stuart Wilson, Forest Monitor (left), and Algis Gaizutis, Forest Owners Association of Lithuania

Some Russian NGOs expressed concern about sufficient opportunities to comment on the draft structure of the St. Petersburg Declaration and indicative list of actions and overall involvement of civil society in the ENA FLEG process, and suggested appointing an ENA FLEG ombudsman as a possible modus operandi for conflict resolution

Evgeny Kuzmichev, FOREST Project, Russia (second from left) , explained government delegates' reactions to the paper on the indicative list of actions, noting that concern was expressed on the structure of the actions paper. He also noted that governments debated whether to rank the list of issues, and that certain elements captured in the actions paper should be included in a preamble to the text.

Victor Teplyakov, IUCN (left), reported on his group's discussion, noting the often divergent views of civil society and governments. He indicated that the group proposed supplemental action points, including on the definition of illegal logging and utilization of logs, data, information and transparency, and legislation and institutions.

Ke Du, Global Environmental Institute, China, voiced stakeholders' support to the ENA FLEG process, expressed the conviction that input from civil society will benefit dialogue with governments, and called for clarifying arrangements for stakeholder participation in the Ministerial Conference.

Jurgen Blaser and Gerhard Dieterle (right) explained that the Ministerial Conference, tentatively scheduled for 22-25 November 2005, will comprise two and a half days of technical discussions and negotiations, include a ministerial segment, as well as parallel events organized by various stakeholders. They said revised text is expected to be put on the website by 5 August, and thus be available in the public domain.

Valery Roshupkin, Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, thanked all participants for the important work done, highlighting valuable input from civil society and the private sector, which will serve as a basis in preparing the Ministerial Conference. He also said that FLEG issues will be taken forward during Russia 's upcoming G8 Presidency. In closing, he invited all participants to St. Petersburg and closed the meeting at 16:45 .